It shared the planet with some of the largest land reptiles ever to walk the Earth, but with a body around the size of a blackbird, it is doubtful its massive dinosaur cousins even noticed it.

Scientists in north-east China have discovered a flying reptile with a wingspan of just 25 cm (10in). It is one of the smallest pterosaurs ever found and probably lived in the forest canopy in the early Cretaceous period 120m years ago. The team, led by Prof Xiaolin Wang at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, discovered the nearly complete fossilised skeleton near Jianchang in Liaoning province. They have christened the new species Nemicolopterus crypticus, meaning "hidden flying forest dweller".

The find is exciting because most pterosaurs are found near the sea. This species (artist's impression above) lived inland and had foot adaptations similar to some birds' which allowed it to perch in the trees. It was toothless and its skull was just over 4cm long. "It is very likely that this pterosaur represents a lineage of arboreal creatures that lived and foraged for insects in the gymnosperms forest canopy of north-east China during the early Cretaceous," the authors write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

The creature is not the smallest pterosaur ever found. A previously discovered Pterodactylus hatchling found in Germany has a wingspan of 18cm.